Yeah, definitely lots of militants out there in their opinion on guitars, cars, bikes,....and especially guns and politics. With 6-pack saddles I'm in the camp of trying to keep each individual saddle level with the fretboard but following the overall fretboard radius. With 3-saddle Teles the saddle height screws pull double duty as they also set the string/saddle radius. But I LOVE 3-saddle Teles,...wouldn't have them any other way.
There's no mechanical reason why they should be at different heights. Other commenters have referred to leaning saddles having a tendency to walk or not fit in a crowded space. In a perfect world, they should be perfectly even. In a good world, they should be close. There's no good reason why one can't set them to be about the same height.
Height should somewhat match the curvature of the fretboard.
Hi, others can make better bridge recommendations than I can but I wanted to throw a couple thing out there to maybe consider. I'm pretty sure I have the same bridge as you on one guitar. I also had a couple of rust issues, but I didn't replace the bridge plate or the 2xscrew block thingys supporting the strings (what are those called?), just a couple of hex screws and it's fine now. Maybe consider that, it wasn't very expensive and def cheaper than replacing the plate and all the parts. Second thing is i has a few problems with stripping and at first thought the screws were stripped but realized it was the hex wrench that was stripped (or whatever those are called, allen wrench)? It was annoying, I used both ends of the wrench over time and the screws stripped both ends. It was/is an el cheapo wrench, and this is over maybe 25 year period, but I am pretty carful not to force anything unnaturally, it just seemed to happen, and only on that guitar. I'm prolly gonna get flamed for saying this (flamers gonna flame
, enjoy fellas), but when it first happened, I didn't want to wait til the next day to get a new hex wrench so I used a bolt cutters and cut off just a bit at the end, an amount a bit longer than the max depth the hex screw soctet and voila, unstripped hex wrench. I call it my mechanical pencil hex wrench. If the end wears down, one snip (and maybe a bit of filing to clean it up - never had to but it might do the job), and it's a shorter, but a clean, unstripped hex (I used a magnifying glass to double check - it was surprising how clean the cut was).Possible slant may cause buzzing and other problems. Saying "will cause" is making it a definite result any time it's done, purposely or on accident.
Yeah, my Tele barrel saddles are tilted, but not the ones on my Strats. I’ve had issues that were caused by one screw not making good contact with the bridge.
Fender neck curvature, intonation and string heights, all go together, and vary by string gauge. That is, a thicker gauge set can be closer to the frets without string buzz than lighter gauge. If you’re away from the fretboard, that raises the note, so you have to adjust the intonation/ string length accordingly. There’s always a sweet spot, where you’re as close to the fretboard as possible (without fret buzz). So set your neck properly first (slight bow to the middle, or negative curvature).Then one string at a time set string height and length (intonation). Then go back and check again for matching. Check harmonic notes vs. fretted notes at different positions, and check string to string matching octave notes. And yes, the saddles should have a slight curvature that matches the neck, high E, B, and G should have a slight curve or drop to the treble side (towards high side) and low strings D, A, and E should slope towards the bass or low side. So it looks like small hill in the center. This of course can vary from guitar to guitar. Even on a good acoustic guitar, the bridge curvature matches the neck, generally. If you have it right, it will stay in tune and sound better. Good luck!
There were a couple instances where I had to use longer saddle height screws to maintain contact with the bridge plate.
You angle saddles they will be under vector forces from the strings and move slightly unless restricted by grooves on the bridge plate. If the are angled to follow the radius they snug up together. If flat they maintain their 10 thou gaps roughly - whether that causes rattle would have to be tested by trial and error
But acoustic guitars don’t have separate saddles that can shuffle about. They are curved because stepped up and then down would be odd.
JustABluesGuy, Well put brother. "Your strings should approximate the radius of the fretboard," on the end where it is closest to the bridge, for compound radius fretboards. "but the individual saddles should be level and parallel to the front of the guitar body." Common sense folks.......JMHO, but it has always worked for me....
Hi,
Makes sence.
